Life Moved by the Spirit

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another, envying one another. Gal 5:25-26
Narrowing the Focus

Walking in the Spirit implies living in the Spirit. There must be a principle of spiritual life, before there Can be any spiritual motions and exercises. And living in the Spirit implies walking in the Spirit. What is a man’s walk? It is his whole life, his whole conduct, outward and inward—all he thinks, feels, desires, speaks, does, suffers. To walk in the Spirit is to have the Holy Ghost originating, directing, controlling, and governing all these.

Progress. A walk is a progress, it has an end in view, and it is a going towards that end, more or less steadily—more or less rapidly.
(1) The man who walks in the Spirit has the same end in view which his Master had; he looks for the joy which is set before us, the glory which is to be revealed.
(2) He has a guide—Christ, whom the Spirit reveals to him, that he may follow in the footsteps of Him who is our example in all things.
(3) He has a rule or map of the way—the Word of God, which the Spirit opens up and makes plain to his soul.
(4) He has a motive or gracious spring urging him on— peace and love.

The benefit. The old nature is checked, kept down, and not permitted to ripen its bitter fruit. Its nature and tendencies are unchanged, unchangeable, but it is checked and restrained at every point. But the new nature is cultivated, and so it bears its peaceable fruits. The man who walks in the Spirit has less outward stir and bustle than others, but he has more success, for he works in God, and God works in and with him. But why this long, tedious, fluctuating conflict between flesh “and spirit? It is to show the evil and deceitfulness of sin, to humble, to make watchful, to make us dependent, and make us long for heaven. (John Milne)

"If we live by the Spirit - If we are indeed raised from the dead, and are alive to God, by the operation of his Spirit. Let us walk by the Spirit - Let us follow his guidance, in all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions."

cross reference verse: 
Isa 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 

The Vice of Vainglory and the Cure

What is vainglory?
"Ambitious of being thought wiser, and richer, and more valuable than others; of having the preeminence in the management of all affairs, and of having honor, esteem, and popular applause from men: this may well be called vain glory, since it is only in outward things, as wisdom, riches, strength, and honor, and not in God the giver of them, and who can easily take them away; and therefore is but for a time, and is quickly gone, and lies only in the opinion and breath of men."  (John Gill)

Men principally refer all their studies, counsels, endeavors, and gifts to the honoring and advancing of themselves. They who have received good gifts of God are often most vainglorious. Whereas all other vices feed upon that which is evil, this vice of vainglory feeds upon good things. A man will sometimes be proud even because he is not proud.

The cure of vainglory.--

1. Meditation.
(1) God resists all proud persons and gives grace to the humble, because the vainglorious man, seeking himself and not God, robs God of His honor.
(2) It is the work of the devil to puff up the mind with self-liking and conceit, that thereby he may work man’s perdition.
(3) There is no religion in that heart that is wholly bent to seek the praise of men. The man who desires to be talked of and admired by others gives notice to the world that his heart is not sound in the sight of God.

2. Practice.
(1) Endeavour to acknowledge the great majesty of God, and our own baseness before Him.
(2) We ought to ascribe all good things we have or can do to God alone, and nothing to ourselves.
(3) In all actions and duties of religion we must first endeavor to approve ourselves to God, and the next place is to be given to man.
(4) When we are reviled we must rest content; when we are praised take heed. Temptations on the right hand are far more dangerous than those on the left.
(5) Men who are ambitious, if they be crossed, grow contentious; if they prosper, they are envied by others. Abhor and detest vainglory; seek to preserve and maintain peace and love.— (Perkins)

It's to be noted, the actions of love, do not guarantee we will feel the emotion of love in every case. Using restraint in a tense situation, remaining silent, when the temptation comes to lash out in anger, being kind when reviled or knowing you've just been tricked, is developed and expresses love for the person before us, and is counted as love, because we are giving that person the dignity we would want for ourselves. We are rendering them restraint, and manners, in the face of their insults, and bad conduct. This is a deeper sense of what love is, and how it works in a world of evil. The Lord Jesus' act of the greatest love the world has ever known-is the fact he was willing to come into this world of sin, be obedient throughout his life, and willingly go to the cross, and suffer and die, for my sins and yours. To this day-I cannot fully fathom it, or grasp it. It will take eternity to get a glimpse of this depth of love.
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"Love of vainglory is a common vice the whole world through, in all conditions. No village so small but there be one or two peasants therein, that will fain be taken for wiser and better than the rest. It is so pleasant to be pointed at with the finger and hear it said: “See, there is a man that is fit for anything!” This vice is common, yet nowhere does it such harm as to those who fulfil a spiritual function and service in the Church." (Luther)

​"I recollect a little town where there was a chapel, the people connected with which thought that if they could only buy a chandelier that was on sale, they would cut out all the other chapels entirely, and everybody would feel that they were made weighty and respectable people, and that the place would be filled with people to see the chandelier. I believe for a time it was, but its light grew dim, and they found that was not the way in which the light of the kingdom of God was to be spread." (C. H. Spurgeon.)